"I started some tracks at home in order to bring them to a bigger studio, but my producer friend said they were finished -- no need to retouch them," Miss Kittin tells Crossfade. "I was in shock! And very proud. After so many years collaborating, it took me that much time to realize I could definitely produce on my own -- it gave me a lot of self confidence."

"To be able to compose on my own is a huge step for me -- a huge achievement," she explains. "It's a time when you accept yourself as you are. I never thought I would become a musician, so every day is a bonus, and this album is already a personal success for me. I am now more efficient in the process of transmitting emotions, I go straight to the point, no artifice. It's not about the technique and perfection, it's about honesty, truth. That's how mature I got as an artist."

Fans of Miss Kittin's campy, provocative electroclash stylings shouldn't expect more of the same, though. The new album marks a definite evolution in her style and overall artistic vision.

"I don't know what the fans expect," she admits. "Thank god I don't ask myself that kind of question at all when I am in the studio. I just make music I like, but I can tell if a song is good when someone can connect to it, to the lyrics, the emotion. I like to talk about universal things in my own vocabulary -- that's what pop music is about: popular. But it's uneasy pop, because of the lyrics and the sounds, not formatted at all. That's probably what the fans like about me. They expect the unexpected. It's a hard role to play, but I was always in a niche, that's my duty."

"I am still the same person who wrote 'Frank Sinatra' in 1996," she clarifies. "But at that time, I didn't know how to sing -- I was taking a piss at a world I saw coming, the star DJ world, not knowing I would be part of it. So ironic that song made it, isn't it? I still take a piss at it! I am the same girl. But this life taught me a hell of a lot, how small we are even if you play in front of thousand people every weekend.

"Luckily, I am not writing things like "suck my dick, kiss my ass" since a long time! It was cool in '96 -- I was naïve and fresh! Would be sad if I'd write the same thing all over again. An artist has to share his vision, and mine is rich from all the things I experience every day, on a more spiritual basis, so to speak!"

Life's lessons have even inspired the title of Miss Kittin's latest EP, Life Is My Teacher, which drops this week. And it should provide a taste of the elegant new sound she promises to unveil on the upcoming LP.

With some luck, we might even get a taste of Calling From the Stars when Miss Kittin throws down at Story Nightclub tomorrow.